In Vietnam, the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which was held November 10-11, 2017 in Danang, completed its work. According to the results of the APEC-2017 summit, agreements were reached between the participating countries in the field of digital economy, investments and business ties. In addition, Putin and Trump held talks and made a joint statement on Syria.

At the meeting, the leaders of APEC-2017 reviewed the prospects of the world economy with the participation of the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde. During the working breakfast, the formation of the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area and the possible expansion of the membership of APEC were discussed. The final meeting of the summit participants was devoted to investments and new driving forces in international trade.

On the second day of the APEC summit in Vietnam, what happened and what all the world media had been talking about for the last two weeks-the personal meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump-happened. It was short enough and went not quite in the format in which it was planned initially. However, the leaders approved a joint statement on Syria.

They agreed that Moscow and Washington will continue their common fight against international terrorism. Also Putin answered the question about his possible nomination for a new presidential term. And in the context of the conversation with the head of the White House he assessed the current relations between Russia and the United States.

The conversation between Putin and Trump lasted only about five minutes. The joint statement, which appeared several hours later, states that Russia and the United States have confirmed their determination to defeat the illegal Russian terrorist group IGIL, and noted that both countries express their commitment to "sovereignty, independence, unity, territorial integrity and secular character of Syria." The Presidents agreed that the Syrian conflict does not have a military solution, its final settlement must be found within the framework of the Geneva process.

At his press conference, Vladimir Putin spoke about why the meeting with Trump did not take place in the format that was originally planned. He noted that this is due to the tight schedule of both and with certain formalities of the protocol.

"We agreed on a joint statement on combating terrorism in Syria. I consider it important, because it emphasizes some absolutely fundamental things. First, the continuation of the fight against terrorism. This is important for the US, for Russia and for the entire world community. We confirmed the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the country. After the end of the fight against terror, we will move in Syria along the path of political settlement under the aegis of the UN, "Putin said.

Journalists were interested not only in the topics of the talks, but also with what mood and in what manner the presidents communicated.

"The President of the United States behaves very correctly, kindly, and we have a normal dialogue," the Russian president said.

Meanwhile, the president said that relations with the United States are still at a low level. Trade between states fell to $ 20 billion a year, although there were 28. Security concerns are of great concern. Vladimir Putin noted that the States reproach Russia for violating the treaty on the elimination of medium and short-range missiles. And he stressed that it is necessary to "show" where these violations occur. At the same time, the US deploys launchers in Romania, which can be used not only for anti-missiles, but also for ballistic missiles Trident. And this is a direct violation of the treaty.

On the margins of the summit, Vladimir Putin had four meetings. One of the most productive talks was with the Chairman of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The leaders discussed economic issues, and also confirmed similar positions with regard to North Korea.

The president also commented on numerous attacks on the country, in particular the so-called "anti-Russian investigations", which are conducted in the US against some officials acting in the interests of Russia. Vladimir Putin said that he heard about this recently from the press secretary Dmitry Peskov and was surprised that the investigation appears to be his relatives. The President called such actions "internal political struggle" and "empty talk".

This can also be attributed to the situation with the TV channel Russia Today. The US Department of Justice forces the TV channel to register as a foreign agent. In this case, he will lose access to the authorities of the country, will report on the sources of funding, and staff will be obliged to report on their professional communication.

"It would be ridiculous if it were not so sad, because those who do it in the United States all the time were beating themselves in the chest and saying that they are Democrats number 1 in the world. In this regard, freedom of speech has always risen to the shield as a luminary of democracy. Without freedom of speech, democracy does not exist. The attack on our media in the US is an attack on freedom of speech, "the president stressed.

Asked by a Japanese journalist about the progress in the relations between the countries, including in the discussion of the Kuril Islands, the President replied that the access to the peace treaty would require more than one year of work. Although already now you can think about visa-free visits to the Kuriles by Japanese citizens.

Russian journalists did not miss the opportunity to once again ask the president about the upcoming elections. Vladimir Putin answered with a smile, noting that while the question remains unanswered.

At the end of the forum, a joint declaration was approved. The leaders of APEC-2017 assessed the current regional and global economic situation, agreed on ways to further develop cooperation, and outlined a number of tasks for the next year. In addition, on the sidelines of the summit, the head of the Russian state communicated with US President Donald Trump. The leaders of the two countries approved a joint statement on Syria.

At the final stage of the forum "Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation" Vladimir Putin answered questions from Russian and foreign journalists.

President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin:

As for the organization, Vietnam has done everything in order to work comfortably, comfortably, and created a very good environment, without any doubt. This is the first.

Second, as for the topic itself - the topic is very relevant. You know that most Russian journalists are here, we in Russia pay a lot of attention to the digital economy in its various aspects, hypostases, and we look at the problems from different angles.

And the fact that Vietnam raised this very issue, I consider extremely important, relevant, because it is necessary for all of us to consider some issues together, but also to solve them. Alone it is difficult to do.

I mean, for example: everyone talks about small, medium-sized business or micro-business, but we need to understand how to integrate it into the overall system, the overall chain of work in the modern economy, the information economy.

What do I need to do? In this regard, Russia had specific proposals, I described them. This concerns the very definition of the conceptual apparatus: what is the digital economy, what is digital commerce and so on. This all seems at first sight a simple thing, but in fact it requires study.

Or, for example, we need to understand the social consequences of applying new technologies. Some say that it is dangerous and scary, as it frees many jobs, it is unclear what to do about it. Others say: there is nothing to worry about, we will retrain.

But this requires expert evaluation, this requires working with trade unions, international experts and the International Labor Organization - the ILO. This all was the subject of our discussion.

Of course, other issues were also raised. So, along the way, this is the fight against terrorism, and the situation in the world energy markets. Right now only at working lunch they talked about this.

They talked about the prospects for the development of APEC. During the existence of this organization, mutual trade has grown at times. This, in general, shows the effectiveness of the association.

We talked about the need for further liberalization of markets, building relations within a single free market. Although some believe that it is premature to talk about this, bearing in mind the different level of development of the economies of the member countries of this organization.

Very interesting was the message of Mrs. Lagarde about the state of the world economy, which, as we know, is growing, and in the medium term the outlook is good. But there are also risks, she said, due to the fact that in the developed economies the rate of wage growth slows down, this reduces the consumer's ability of the population.

She spoke about the need for a balanced budget, financial, credit policy, the need for structural changes in the economy. This all was the subject of our discussion.

All this is extremely interesting, important, in demand. And the fact that we have a general idea of ??where to move is of great importance.